Xcel Motorsport’s Lucas Fluxa ended a 357-day drought when he secured victory in the reversed-grid race at Brands Hatch earlier this month.
It was the second win of the Spaniard’s GB3 career, with his maiden victory coming at Donington Park almost a year before, and kept his mathematical title chances alive with a round still to go.
Fluxa, who had started from fourth on the grid, made an electric start to storm into the race lead before the first corner.
“I knew it was really important to get a good start because it is quite difficult to overtake around here,” he said. “Everyone started focusing on other people and there was a gap on the right. I went for it, as I knew it was the only option. I took the gap and it all worked out.”
From there, the 17-year-old was rarely challenged as he controlled proceedings, winning by 0.844 seconds from Hitech’s Yuhao Fu.
Fluxa was pleased to return to the top step of the podium, particularly after what he described as “a tough start” to the weekend.
“We didn’t do the test days here this year,” he explained, having missed the pre-event testing due to racing in the LMP3 of Le Mans Cup at Silverstone. “I only had 15 minutes to adapt to the GP layout. It was challenging [but] we maximised all we could.
“It was important to finish on a high note and to bring the momentum to Barcelona.”
Heading into the final round of the season, Fluxa’s victory helped to keep his faint title hopes alive. He will head to Barcelona on 355 points, 90 behind drivers’ championship leader Nikita Bedrin with a maximum of 102 remaining.
“It’s the last round and everything is to play for,” he said. “Anything can happen. It is racing, so we’ll be ready for anything.”
The Spaniard has previous experience at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, having raced there in Spanish F4 in 2024 and in the Le Mans Cup this year.
“It is a very nice track to drive, very fun and fast-flowing,” he recalled. “It should be good racing, with plenty of overtaking opportunities, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
Fluxa is hopeful of securing a third victory in GB3, with the chance of doing so in front of his family at his home event.
“It would mean a lot [to win] and hopefully my family can come,” he said. “A win is a win, it doesn’t matter where, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m just looking forward to it, and we’ll push as much as we can.”